SpaceX to Launch 2 NASA Astronauts

On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. view of Earth that no American had seen before. His Freedom 7 Mercury capsule made suborbital flight lasting 15 minutes. Almost 60 years later, SpaceX is about to have two American astronauts see a similar view, but take them further than Shepard went and longer. Cover photo from Freedom 7 Credit NASA

Preparations for the first crewed flight of the SpaceX dragon are underway. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch Crew Dragon, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard the spacecraft, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting no earlier than mid-to-late May for launch. The mission will likely be one of the biggest events in 2020 for the space industry as America prepares for the first launch from US soil of Astronauts into orbit since final space shuttle mission on July 8, 2011.  Following a successful Crew Demo-2, SpaceX has plans to launch a crew to the International Space Station in late 2020.  See also SpaceX to launch Crew Dragon with JAXA Astronaut article.

Boeing and SpaceX are both working toward their first crewed test flights prior to delivery of 12 operational missions for NASA.  , which are expected to provide crew access to the ISS for at least 48 astronauts through 2024. NASA has awarded  $8 over billion on development of new crew transportation to space.  The program is several years behind schedule as both Boeing and SpaceX  have been working to address a variety of technical and safety issues before they are certified to provide crew transportation.

In a March 31^st NASA press release NASA shared that SpaceX is continuing to make progress towards the first flight test with astronauts to the International Space Station.  A series of series of mission simulations from launch to landing are being conducted to further prepare the crew for the symbolic mission.  Recent preflight simulations include hatch closure, undocking with the ISS, free flight in preparation for re-entry, and splashdown. Control teams and crew ran through a simulated mission starting at prelaunch through ascent and eventual simulated the rendezvous with the station.

“The simulations were a great opportunity to practice procedures and to coordinate decision-making for the mission management team, especially with respect to weather.  Simulation supervisors do a great job at picking cases that really make the team think and discuss.” 

Michael Hess, manager of Operations Integration for CCP.

The SpaceX Demo-2 will closely mirror the crewless Demo-1 test flight to International Space Station completed in March 2019.  A key difference in this mission from Demo-1 is NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft launching atop a human rated Falcon 9 rocket as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

What is CCP? and why?

Commercial Crew Program (CCP) has put in motion to facilitate the development of a United States (U.S.) commercial crew space transportation capability.  The ultimate goal of the program is to achieve safe, reliable, and cost effective access to and from low Earth orbit (LEO) including the International Space Station (ISS) which is due to be operational through 2024.  NASA has purchased commercial services to meet its ISS crew rotation and emergency return rather than continue to rely on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft which launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site.  NASA will now utilize spacecraft developed and launched from US soil.

A primary concern is safety of the crew.  NASA with the new commercial procured spaceflight services from Boeing and SpaceX is seeking to reduce risk to crew and especially reduce the probability of loss of crew (LOC).  NASA has established minimum tolerable levels of safety for crew transportation missions to the International Space Station (ISS).  The Space Shuttle, as summarized by NASA System Safety Handbook originally had an expected LOC between 1:1,000 and 1:10,000.  After re-evaluation from the Challenger and Columbia disasters, the LOC estimates were redone several times and estimates ranged from as 1:35 to 1:200.  Having such a high risk for humans on the space shuttle helped drive the need for a new vehicle.

Based on studies of known failures for past missions, NASA established reducing the LOC could be partially achieved by reducing risk to crews during launch.  NASA raised the bar on safety, and all future crewed missions by including a “launch abort system” LAS, a capability that the Space Shuttle did not have.  With the inclusion of a LAS, NASA was able to achieve more than 80% lower risk based on a NASA Ames study. The achievable risk would be much, much lower than that of the space shuttle. 

Why only 2 astronauts?

A lot of people asked, why not send more people up to the ISS on Demo-2 flight of Crew Dragon?  Through the course of human rocket launches, most first flights of a new vehicle were done with no crew.  The Space Shuttle is a notable exception. STS-1 missions was the only initial NASA flight with a crew.  STS-2 also only flew with two crew during the second shakedown mission.  The main purpose of the mission is to finalize the qualification of the spacecraft.  Basically, NASA is taking a final test drive of the 2+ billion dollar investment it made into the Crew Dragon.

Both STS-1 and STS-2 were shorter missions than the SpaceX Demo-1 flight and planned Demo-2 flight. With similar logic, the Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner demo missions were originally planned as shorter-duration test flights lasting days or weeks. These shorter flights allow NASA and SpaceX to gain valuable experience to avoid catastrophic failures that can result in the harming or a Loss of Crew Event.   Between Demo-1 and Demo-2, SpaceX did have some major lessons learned that were implemented to improve crew safety.  After the initial crewed test flight has been analyzed, NASA intends to certify the spacecraft including any lessons learned for longer-duration missions lasting up to 210 days while docked on the ISS. 

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch Crew Dragon, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnkenand Doug Hurley aboard the spacecraft, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting no earlier than mid-to-late May for launch. Hurley was a pilot on two prior space shuttle missions and will be vehicle commander on the Crew Dragon test flight. Behnken, is also a veteran astronaut of two shuttle flights and will serve as the vehicle pilot.

---

• WordPress
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Medium